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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25432309">The Band Called Phoenix</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/OneBlackCoffee/pseuds/OneBlackCoffee'>OneBlackCoffee</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>All For The Game - Nora Sakavic</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Andrew is adopted by David and Abby, F/F, F/M, M/M, Musicians, Past Rape/Non-con, This is for the long haul</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 06:34:31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>5,581</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25432309</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/OneBlackCoffee/pseuds/OneBlackCoffee</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>When Andrew was in middle school he is taken away from the Spears by David and Abby and those are just the first few steps to Andrew, Kevin, Neil, and Jean becoming worldwide rock stars. <br/>....</p><p>This was originally a Musician AU one-shot for AFTG Bingo but I decided to cut it up and go more in-depth.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Abby Winfield/David Wymack, Allison Reynolds/Renee Walker (All For The Game), Jeremy Knox/Jean Moreau, Katelyn/Aaron Minyard, Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>33</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Save him</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Andrew started playing the guitar in middle school. It was a perfect reason not to go back to his foster home; the teacher, Mrs. Higgins, also always brought food cookies or cupcakes. </p><p> The guitar basics were relatively easy to learn for Andrew. With his memory, he only needed to see the notes and figure out what their finger positions were, and he would never mix up the notes - what Andrew needed to work on was everything else. But twelve-year-old Andrew found that playing the guitar was practically therapeutic, especially when Mrs. Higgins handed him an electric guitar to try out and watched as Andrew began to experiment. Mrs.Higgins knew that the boy had some behavioral problems, it took a whole staff meeting to figure out if he should even be allowed to take part in Band, but Higgins fought hard on the idea that music could help the boy, but listening to the music that Andrew was making? It was loud and angry and painful. She knew that something was wrong in this boy's life. </p><p> Mrs. Higgins was hesitant on what her next steps should be, even with all of the behavioral problems the school had refused to call in a psychologist for him, she knew that the school would just brush off her concern. <br/>So, she decided she will go to her husband.<br/>...</p><p> “Ana, I’m home,” The cop called out as he threw his keys in the bowl next to the coat rack. </p><p> “Dinner’s almost ready,” His wife yelled back, “Go get cleaned up,” and in about thirty minutes, the couple was sitting across each other, eating dinner. </p><p> “How was your day?” Phil asked as he began to scoop up a bite of mashed potatoes </p><p> “That’s actually something I want to talk to you about,” Ana said, placing her fork down - Phil noticed the sudden change in her demeanor and put his fork down also. </p><p>“What is it?” </p><p> “I have this student, Andrew Doe, and something is wrong. The other teachers think I’m ridiculous, but I can hear it! I can hear it in his music. There’s so much pain, anger, desperation,” Ana declared, “Can...Can you look into it? He’s in foster care, so he’s already in the system.” </p><p>  “I’ll look into it, of course,” The cop nodded; he has learned over time that the woman had terrific instincts and to listen to what she says. “But if you thought something was wrong, why didn’t you refer him to my program?” </p><p> “I thought about it, but I noticed he had a bit of an issue with the male teachers, especially, which is another reason to check him out.”  </p><p> Phil looked at his wife, took one last bite of his mashed potato before he stood up and brought his plate to the sink “I’ll be back, I’ll do the dishes when I get home,” and with that, the man walked out of the apartment and made his way to the police station. </p><p>  “Phil, you’re back?” A detective, Sophie,  asked from their desk. </p><p>  “Yeah, I have to do something,” Phil said, sitting down at his desk, entering his ID and password. </p><p>  “What are you doing?” she asked, walking over to Phil. Bothering the male, procrastinating logging in all of her paperwork. </p><p> “I’m worried a kid is in danger,” Higgins said as he typed in Andrew Doe in the database, along with their town’s name. </p><p>“Andrew Doe? He’s not in the PAL program” Sophia said </p><p> “No, he’s one of Ana’s students,” Phil hummed as the boy came up, born November fourth and left in the hospital. The boy was definitely troubled, he was in his twelfth foster home, and he was only twelve.  </p><p>“Oh, he’s with the Spears’. My little brother was friends with their son, Drake” Sophia scrunched up her nose “Kid always kind of creeped me out. There was just something wrong about him, you know?” </p><p>  Phil turned his chair around to face her “What do you mean?” </p><p>  “I don’t know, man. As I said, he was my little brother’s - who is nine years younger than me - friend. I didn’t exactly spend time with them,”  Sophie shrugged and walked back to her desk. </p><p>Phil stared at his computer. Sophie was one of the youngest ever to become a detective and was known in the precinct for always being right - much to her coworkers' annoyance. </p><p> “Drake Spear, huh?” and soon, the man was looking up the Spear family's foster history. No kid stayed there long, in fact, Andrew is their most extended foster kid.</p><p> Higgins got up and made his way to the other room and up to an empty whiteboard and began to write the little facts he knew. </p><p> Angry<br/>Pain <br/>Desperate<br/>Children don’t stay long at the Spears<br/>Sophie’s distrust in Drake Spear</p><p>It wasn’t much, but it was enough to convince Higgins that Andrew Doe needed to get out of that house, but there wasn’t much to do. </p><p> The man sighed and decided to go back home; he had to talk to his wife. </p><p>....</p><p> “So?” Ana asked as Phil walked through the door. </p><p> “He needs to get out of that house,” The man said, sitting down at the kitchen table again, looking over to see that his wife already did the dishes. </p><p> “What did you find out?”</p><p> “I think it might be the son. Drake Spear? Sophie knows him, and she said that there seemed to be something wrong about him” Phil sighed and ran his hands down his face “I don’t know what to do because even if the boy comes clean, then what happens then? He’s just going to be thrown back into the system, and God knows what would happen to him then.” </p><p> Ana sat there quietly, then stood up to make tea. “What about...” </p><p> “What?” </p><p>“What about David?” She asked turning to her husband</p><p> “David? David who? I know about four David’s, you’re going to have to narrow it down.” </p><p> “David...God, what’s his last name? Ummmm,” Ana trailed off before yelling, “Wymack!”</p><p> “David Wymack? What about him? I haven’t talked to him since college.” </p><p> “He and his wife are foster parents, remember? We saw them at your high school’s ten-year reunion?” Ana reminded him </p><p> “Crap, you’re right, but I don’t have his contact information.”  </p><p> "He's a coach at that college; the website will have a way to contact him." </p><p>Phil hesitated, but he needed Andrew out of that house as soon as possible. Phil looked up David and quickly wrote him an email asking David to call him because it was urgent and left his contact information. Not ten minutes after the email was sent, Phil gets a call from a South Carolina number.</p><p>"Hello?" Phil answered as he was finishing up her tea.</p><p> "Phil, hey, it's David," A voice said over the phone.</p><p> "Hey, so I know this is random and kind of a big ask, but are you still fostering?" </p><p>"Um, yeah. Me and Abby are still fostering. We don't have any at the moment, though, why?" </p><p>Phil took a deep breath and prayed that this would work "Okay, listen, my wife has got this student, and I need him out of his foster house it's not safe, but I don't have anything on them at the moment, but I need an out for this kid, and I know that you are a good guy and Ana mentioned that you foster." </p><p>"Not that I'm saying no, but why can't you guys take him?" </p><p> "I would, but Ana's mom is in the hospital right now, and then she's going to come live with us. We won't have a room for him." </p><p> " I'll talk to Abby; we're currently on summer break, so I'm sure we can fly over and talk to the kid with you. How urgent is this?" <br/> "The person I'm worried about is in the military, but I don't know when he'll be back, so I want to do this as soon as possible."</p><p> "Alright, I'm going home right now, so I'll talk to her when I get there."</p><p>"I know this is a big ask, especially since we haven't talked in years so, thank you" Phil sighed in relief, feeling a little bit of the weight on his chest ease off.</p><p> "This has nothing to do with us; it's about a kid in danger." </p><p>"Still, thank you, anyways."</p><p>....</p><p>It took two days for Abby and David to arrive in California and meet Phil at the middle school.</p><p> "Hi, how are you?" Abby said as she and David reached Phil at the front steps in front of the school. </p><p> "Stressed," Phil said, then walked into the school and walked with the other two to the band room "So, the school day just ended but the band and chorus have an end of the school year concert soon so Andrew will be here practicing with the rest of the school band."</p><p>"Right, he plays guitar," David nodded. </p><p>"He's great too," Ana said, surprising them.</p><p> "Oh, hi!" Abby smiled "It's been so long! How are you." </p><p> "Thankful for you guys, truly," Ana smiled at the nurse. </p><p> "Nonsense, I could never say no to helping a child," Abby shook her head. </p><p>David made a noise of agreement and wrapped his arm around his wife's waist "So, how are we doing this?" </p><p> "So, this is happening completely underneath the school's nose, meaning this can't be done in the open. So, I'm going to have my student teacher take the kids to the cafeteria to get some drinks, and I'll tell Andrew to stay behind, then we can talk to him. I was thinking Phil, and I can go in first and then introduce you guys. He's a very guarded child, and he won't react well if he feels bombarded. We're going to have to handle this delicately. He also seems to have some sort of an attachment to his current foster mother, just a warning."</p><p>It was fourteen minutes after Ana and Phil walked into the room that Phil came to the door and invited David and Abby in. </p><p> "Andrew, this is David and Abby Wymack. They are friends of mine, and they are also foster parents." </p><p>"And we would love it if you would come and live with us" Abby smiled at Andrew and noticed that the boy was still holding a guitar, his fingers white from him holding onto the neck of the guitar.</p><p> "I want to stay with Cass," Andrew said, looking down at the guitar, loosening his grip and silently moving his fingers into notes. </p><p>  Abby walked over and knelt in front of Andrew. "I understand that you want to stay with her, but Andrew, you're not safe - are you?" </p><p> "Everything is fine, Cass is nice. She's even coming to the concert," Andrew retorted, continuing his finger movement. </p><p> "Yeah?" David asked, kneeling next to Abby, "Is that why you're wearing long sleeves when it's eighty-five degrees outside?" </p><p> Andrew's hand movement stopped, and he meets David's gaze "I don't know what you are talking about." </p><p> "Do you know what Abby or I do?" Andrew shook his head no "Well, I'm a university Exy coach, and I believe in giving people second chances, so I've seen all types of self-destruction and self-harm is not a rare one." </p><p> "It makes it feel better, right?" Abby asked, "Does it give you...you a sense of self-control?" </p><p> Andrew hesitated but nodded.</p><p>"Andrew, you should not have to cut yourself to feel in control of yourself. You deserve to feel happy, safe, and in control of yourself, and that's what we are offering. We can add a lock on your bedroom door, get you some guitar lessons too - Mrs. Ana here says you are great." </p><p> "What about the concert? I have a solo," Andrew asked, looking over to Ana. </p><p>"We'll stay until the school year is over, of course," David promised. </p><p> Andrew was quiet again, moving his fingers on the guitar's neck, "Okay."</p><p>Everything happened quickly, Andrew was removed from the Spears' home that day, much to Cass's dismay and was staying with the Wymacks' at an apartment that someone was subletting for the rest of the school year. </p><p>Andrew had no clue what was happening with Drake, but Cass showed up at the school during lunch and begged Andrew to stop with the lies and tell the cops that he was lying - Ana called the cops to escort her out of the building and had David and Abby dismiss him for the rest of the school day. </p><p>  Then it was the night of the concert, and Andrew was in the back with the rest of the students fiddling with his guitar. The band had stayed after school to get one last practice in, and he had no clue if Abby and David were actually in the audience, and he was afraid to look. </p><p>The past week that he had been staying with them had gone great, but he was always waiting for the second shoe to drop. </p><p> "They're here, Andrew" Mrs. Higgins smiled down at him "They're in the front row, and Abby has a video camera out." </p><p> Andrew fought off a smile on his face, "Okay."</p><p>  After the concert ended, the students were released into the crowd so they could find their family. </p><p> "You did amazing, Andrew," Abby gushed and went to hug him but stopped herself - knowing that Andrew hated being touched. </p><p> "Ana was right, you're great at guitar" David grinned at him "I'm not going to lie, I was hoping to get you into Exy but with that talent of yours? You should stick with Band." </p><p> Andrew cursed his fair skin as he felt his face heat up at the compliments, they were ridiculous - he'd only been playing for seven months, he wasn't 'amazing.' </p><p> "So, we were thinking about buying you flowers, but we figured we should buy you something that would last, but it's at the apartment" Abby grinned bouncing on her heels a little </p><p> "I suggest we go home now so you can open your gift, and then we are going to meet Phil and Ana for dinner. Sounds good?" David asked the other two who agreed.  </p><p>When they arrived at the apartment, Abby rushed to her and David's room and came back awkwardly, holding a large wrapped box. David grabbed it and motioned for Andrew to sit on the couch and placed it on the coffee table. </p><p> "Open it! Open it!" Abby told him, as Andrew sat in front of the box, pulling out her video camera and began recording again</p><p> Andrew slowly ripped through the wrapping paper to see a plain brown box. He looked at David and Abby before opening the box to see a guitar, a Martin LX1. </p><p> "And we're already looking into guitar lessons if you want some," Abby said. </p><p>Andrew stared at the guitar before lifting it and placing it on his knee. It was so new. It felt new; it looked new; it even smelled new. "Thank you," Andrew said as he dug his guitar pick from his pocket and gave the guitar a soft strum. </p><p> "There's a strap in the box too," Davis said as he looked down at his watch and made a hand motion so Abby would turn off the camera "Time to go. Come on, Andrew; you can spend all night keeping us awake with your guitar playing later. we've got dinner plans."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The band called Phoenix</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Andrew had been living with the Wymack's for a year before they approached him about adoption, and close after Andrew Doe was officially Andrew Wymack.</p><p> Two years later, Andrew answered the house phone for someone claiming that his mother just died and that David was his father.</p><p>The whole thing filled Andrew with dread, fearing that David and Abby wouldn't want him anymore because David now had a biological son, but soon Andrew had a brother. They were moving to a house with three bedrooms that was sadly in a different school district - not that Andrew had any friends at his school, but he would be going to Kevin's school, and he was curious how everything would go. Will Kevin try to drag him along to meet his friends, or will he completely ignore his brother at school?</p><p>Everything was settled; the rooms were adequately unpacked, luckily Kevin and Andrew no longer shared a room, but they shared a connecting bathroom. </p><p>Andrew didn't mind Kevin much; he can get annoying and bossy, especially when he learned that Andrew played guitar.<br/>Kevin kept bringing up the band he was in with some friends; luckily for Andrew, they were both out of the country. One in England and the other in France. </p><p> "Hey," Kevin greeted as he walked through the front door, just getting back from therapy.</p><p> "Where's Abby?" </p><p> "She's going to the grocery store," Kevin mumbled as he dropped himself on the recliner chair, ignoring the tv as he read something on his phone. </p><p> "Ok" </p><p> "My friend Nat just got back from England. I'm going over to hang out. Want to go?" </p><p> "Who's Nat?" Andrew asked because the only friend that in England that Kevin mentioned was a Neil.</p><p> Kevin paused and looked up. "I meant Neil. Neil and his uncle just got back." </p><p> "I'm good," Andrew said. </p><p> "Alright," Kevin shrugged. "Tell...Dad that I'll eat at Neil's house."</p><p> Andrew nodded</p><p>"See you," Kevin called out as he walked out of the house, and Andrew saw as he rode off on his bike. Andrew wondered how long of a bike ride it must be, especially since Neil lived in the rich part of the town while Jean, from what Andrew could tell, lived in the poorer part of town. How the trio met and made a band is beyond Andrew's understanding. <br/>....</p><p>It was later that evening, and Andrew couldn't find his guitar pick; after looking for a total of five seconds, he decided to go into Kevin's room to take one of his. </p><p>Andrew hadn't entered Kevin's room since they moved into the house, and he had no clue where he kept his picks.</p><p>Why is he so anal? Andrew thought as he began to open drawers, he couldn't be a normal teenage boy and leave crap out. </p><p>Andrew opened a drawer in Kevin's desk and found a picture looking up at him. The picture was of four boys. There was Kevin, and an Asian boy, holding a large trophy, smiling at the camera. There was a taller boy with black hair and a guarded smile; the other boy is the one that really caught Andrew's attention; he wasn't smiling. The other boy was short, dwarfed by the taller kid who had his arm on the boy's shoulder; he had silky looking Auburn hair and light sky blue eyes.</p><p> The pair stood separately from Kevin and the other boy which was strange; in fact, the whole picture was strange. Starting with the fact that Kevin only mentioned that there were two other people in his band. </p><p> “What the hell, Andrew!” Kevin yelled, ripping the picture from Andrew’s hands. “Don’t look through other people’s stuff.” </p><p> “I need a pick,” Andrew shrugged. Kevin glared and walked over to his bass’s case and threw a pick at Andrew. </p><p> “Now, get out.” </p><p> Andrew walked out of the room, and Kevin slammed his door behind him. The blond paused as he heard a glass shatter but decided to continue to his room; he wanted to finish the song he was composing before he went to sleep; it was the night before the first day of school, so he didn’t have the luxury to stay up as late to finish the song. <br/>....</p><p>It seemed that Kevin had not forgiven Andrew the next day; he spent breakfast and the car ride to school in complete silence - ignoring Abby’s attempts to start a conversation. </p><p>“What are your classes?” Kevin finally asked as they left Abby’s car. Andrew didn’t bother answering, instead of ignoring him and walked into the building - he had memorized the school's map, so he knew where he had to go. </p><p> Kevin sighed, rolled his eyes, and followed behind his brother until he saw Neil arguing with some senior in front of the cafeteria. “For fucks sake.” </p><p> “Oh, I’m a big scary senior football player so I can do whatever I want,” Neil mocked in an exaggerated deep voice and then said, “Hate to break it to you ‘Jerry Rice’ but you’re not good enough to pretend you can do whatever you want, so go the fuck away and stop blaming others for your girlfriend wanting to break up with you maybe you weren’t packing enough” in a normal, calm voice.</p><p> “You know what, you piece of shit?” The guy said, taking a step toward Neil.</p><p> “He doesn’t; why don’t you ask me?” Jean said, coming out of nowhere and resting his arm on Neil’s shoulder. The french man tilted his head in a threatening manner. </p><p> “Fuck off, Moreau,” The other guy growled. “This isn’t about you.” </p><p> “That’s where you are wrong, Jack, considering I was the one that slept with Lily,” Jean hummed. Jack growled and pulled his arm back to punch Jean but was soon hunched over, which gave Neil the exact height he needed to slam his elbow between the other boy's shoulder blade, causing Jack to faceplant into the floor. Neil was lifting his leg, but Kevin grabbed the back of his collar and dragged him away, walking past Andrew - who had stopped in the hallway to watch the interaction - leaving Jean to pick up Neil’s book bag from the floor and follow the pair, Neil fighting for Kevin to let go of his collar. </p><p> Andrew looked around the hallway, noticing all of the different reactions; some were looking at the still laid out boy laughing, some were still looking to where the trio disappeared, and some had headphones in and had no clue that anything happened. </p><p>And much to Andrew’s annoyance, the redhead had piqued his interest.<br/>....</p><p>It turned out that Andrew shared five out of eight classes and lunch with Neil - in their first period Neil made a quick introduction starting with ‘You’re Kevin’s brother” and ending with ‘I’m Neil, the asshole’s friend’ and when lunch came around they enter the Cafeteria together. Neil pointed in a general area and said, ‘I sit over there,’ and then left. </p><p>Andrew walked away from the cashier and quickly analyzed the cafeteria and began to weigh his options; he could sit with Neil and the few other people that were sitting there or sit by himself, but before he could make a decision, a voice came from behind him:</p><p> “Come on, Andrew,” Kevin said, walking around Andrew - carrying a brown bag; Andrew hadn’t realized that Kevin had packed a cold lunch. Did he make it, or was it, Abby? Andrew made a quick decision to follow Kevin. </p><p> When he reached the round table, he sat next to Neil, picking food off Jean’s tray as he sat backward in his seat. </p><p> “Ah, Wymack 2.0, you did decide to sit with us,” A random guy who was sitting in front of him. </p><p> Before Andrew could even glare at him, Neil answered, “He’s not 2.0, dumbass; Kevin didn’t change his name, and even if he did, Andrew was a Wymack first.” </p><p>“Stop,” Jean chastised, smacking Neil’s hand away from his tray when Neil went to grab a fry. “You know the rules, no french fries. Go get your own fries,” Neil huffed and stole a chicken nugget. </p><p>  “Alright then, Wymack, you decided to sit with us,” The guy said again. “I’m Amul.”</p><p> Andrew didn’t bother to acknowledge the male. </p><p> “So, I spoke to my dad, and he said we can move our practice space to our basement - so Neil, get your nanny to drive you to my house with your new drum kit,” Kevin said, pulling an apple from his brown bag and taking a bite as Jean snorted at the nanny comment.</p><p> “She’s not my damn nanny, asshole. She’s the housekeeper,” Neil snapped. </p><p> “More like she’s your uncle’s mistress,” Jean laughed. </p><p> “He’s not married; she can’t be his mistress” Neil rolled his eyes. </p><p> “No, it’s just really inappropriate considering she works for him. He can’t get complete consent when he holds her job in his hands,” the girl from across Andrew. </p><p> “Don’t forget the fact that she’s only, what, nineteen?” Another girl added. </p><p> “Didn’t say it was okay, just that she wasn’t the nanny,” Neil pointed out. </p><p> “Hey, Andrew, Kevin said that you play guitar - did you end up taking Band?” The first girl asked, “Also, I’m Jenny, and this is Thea.”</p><p> “Yeah,” Andrew nodded. </p><p> “I’m surprised that Kevin didn’t ask you to join TPC, especially since they are down a second guitar now,” Amul said before letting out a sharp sound of pain “What the hell?!?” </p><p> “Just eat your damn food,” Thea snapped with a threatening look. </p><p> Andrew turned to look at Kevin, who stopped mid-bite. </p><p> “I  just got back on Friday and Neil last night; Kevin can’t just offer someone a spot on the band without our approval,” Jean said, breaking the tension. Andrew heard Neil make a quiet scoff, which earned him a warning look from Jean. </p><p> “Andrew, you should let us hear you play tonight if you want to join - we’ll be there tonight setting up the room anyway,” Neil said, taking a sip from Jean’s strawberry milk. </p><p> Andrew shrugged; he thinks that being in anything with Kevin will end with homicide, but Neil was attractive enough to make the offer actually tempting.<br/>....</p><p>The school day went by at a decent pace, ending with Band class.</p><p>Andrew walked into the classroom, and his eyes immediately found Neil; he was sitting behind a drum kit, twirling drumsticks in his hands while talking to Jenny, who caught him looking at them and waved him over. </p><p> “Hey, Andrew,” Jenny smiled. “There are folders with everyone’s names on them on top of the piano. You didn’t bring your guitar?” </p><p> “The school doesn’t provide some?” Andrew asked, looking around, seeing that everyone already had their instrument out - some with reeds in their mouths already. </p><p> “Yeah, but most people bring their own and drop it off here in the morning. I play the flute, and way too much spit is involved to use anyone else's flute,” Jenny shuddered, and Andrew made it a not to bring his guitar. </p><p> “What does TPC stand for?” Andrew asked when Jenny went to take a seat with the rest of the flutist. </p><p>Neil sighed and rolled his eyes. “It stands for ‘The Perfect Court’ don’t ask, Riko demanded the stupid name, and I only agreed if it was an acronym” Neil looked over at the teacher, who was still absorbed in a conversation with two other students. </p><p> “Who’s Riko?” Andrew asked again. </p><p> “How do you find Kevin as a brother?” Neil asked, instead. "I probably would have killed him by now."</p><p>“I asked first,” Andrew shook his head.</p><p>“You already asked a question. You think I’m giving out answers for free?” </p><p> “I find him entitled and bossy,” Andrew said, “Who is Riko?” </p><p> “Riko was our first guitar man and our lead singer, which was nonsense; Kevin was obviously the better singer. He was a complete asshole - you think Kevin was bossy? Riko was a god damn tyrant,” Neil answered through clenched teeth and then took a deep breath. “How’s Kevin been at your home? This summer was complete shit for him, but my uncle refused to let me come back since we only get to see the family twice a year.” </p><p> “He’s doing fine; he’s only broken one thing for the past two weeks. If Riko was such a terrible person, why stay in his band?” </p><p> “Kevin. Kevin and I met in elementary school when I transferred here and joined Band, and - as children do - we became instant best friends. When Kevin said, he and Riko were starting a band...I couldn’t leave him alone to deal with Riko. He was too innocent; he couldn’t see the psycho in his eyes,” By this point, Neil had stopped twirling his drumstick. “How long have you been living with the Wymacks?” </p><p>  “Three years. What happened to Riko?” </p><p>  “After his father died, his older brother went crazy and killed him and his uncle. Claiming they were conspiring against him and that Riko killed their father - which really wouldn’t surprise me, Riko was one sick and twisted son of a bitch”</p><p> Andrew stared at Neil, surprised at the easy and calm way he talked about the murder of someone he knew well - hated - but still knew. </p><p> “Alright, class!” The band teacher clapped his hands a quick five-beat, and the students that had their instruments prepared repeated it. “Does anyone need an instrument?” <br/>....<br/>Andrew was sitting at the kitchen table, doing his history homework, when he heard the front door open and a swear.  </p><p> “Neil, hurry up!” Kevin yelled </p><p> “Fuck you, Kevin!” Neil yelled back from outside. </p><p> “If you’re so impatient, go and help him,” Jean said; Andrew spoke to the man once, and he already knew he was rolling his eyes. </p><p> Kevin groaned. “Fine.” </p><p>“Hello, Andrew,” Jean greeted when he came into sight, carrying a guitar case, a microphone, and a microphone pole. “Can you show me where the basement is?” </p><p> Andrew got up and led Jean around a corner, and opened the door for him. </p><p> “You should bring your guitar down and play with us - show us what you’ve got,” Jean said as he began to climb down the stairs. “Of course, that is if you want to play with us, we really are looking for a second guitar man.” </p><p> It took the four of them - Neil asked for his help - multiple trips to lug everything to the basement. </p><p>  “So, you thinking about playing for us?” Neil asked as he was setting up his drum kit. </p><p>  “What’s your sound?” Andrew asked, grabbing one of Neil’s drumsticks to try to twirl it through his fingers like Neil did but only succeeded in causing it to fly across the room, hitting Kevin - who was messing with the microphones - in the back of the head.</p><p> “Nice,” Neil snorted as Kevin turned and glared at him. “Um, I guess we’re rock, pop-rock, or whatever.” </p><p>  “Play me a song, and I’ll see if I want to ‘audition,’” Andrew said with hand quotes. </p><p> “Deal, but first we need to set everything up, but there are folders in that box; it has our music sheets in it. Choose a song, and we’ll play it” Neil tilted his head, motioning to a box next to Jean’s guitar. </p><p> Andrew walked over and found a folder that was labeled guitar and began to flip through the sheets. There were titles scribbled on the top, along with names written next to them. </p><p>Emperor's New Clothes (Kevin)</p><p>Dance with the Devil (Neil) </p><p>The Phoenix (Jean, Neil) </p><p>Ignorance (Jean) </p><p>Teenagers (All) </p><p>Andrew walked over to Neil, who was placing his ride cymbal. “What’s with the names on the sheets?” </p><p> “Hm?” Neil asked, looking up, “Oh, it’s who wrote them. We had a lot more, but we threw them away; it was supposed to be healing or whatever.” </p><p>“You joined the band for Kevin, but why did Jean join?” Andrew asked, grabbing a...brush stick? </p><p>“He had just transferred from France; I think he was lonely. Sucks that I wasn’t enough to stop Riko from inviting him in the band - he had no clue how abusive and toxic Riko was” Neil frowned, remembering how he tried to refuse Jean joining the band only for Kevin and Riko to overrule him. </p><p> It was another forty-five minutes before everything was set up, </p><p> “Hey, we're gonna play Dance with the Devil for Andrew,” Neil said as he sat down on his stool. </p><p> “Are you sure?” Jean asked, looking at Neil, which piqued Andrew’s curiosity. Neil nodded, and they soon got into position. Neil at the drums, fucking with the microphone, Kevin in the front center, he looked awkward as if he felt out of place, and Jean was plugging in his guitar. </p><p>Neil started it off with the classic ‘one two three’; then Jean began playing. Throughout the song, Jean would turn and look at Neil. </p><p>By the end of the song, Andrew knew he was joining the band, which after seeing him play, the band offered him a spot. </p><p>“But the name has to go. The Perfect Court is a stupid name,” Andrew stated; Neil let out a laugh. </p><p>“I’m down, the name was stupid then, and it’s stupid now,” Neil agreed, still sitting at his drums, twirling a stick again. </p><p>  “I agree, the name should go,” Jean nodded, placing his guitar in its case. </p><p> Kevin bit his lip. “Okay,” he breathed out reluctantly. </p><p> They sat in the basement arguing band names and eventually settled on  Phoenix. All four of them rose from their own sort of ashes. </p><p>Neil and Jean left when Abby called down for dinner, and they declined her invitation to eat with them, and Neil’s uncle came to pick them up. </p><p>  “He’s not into people,” Kevin said as the two of them cleaned up after dinner. Kevin packing leftovers and Andrew washing dishes. </p><p> “Who?” Andrew asked</p><p> “Neil,” Kevin snapped, “He doesn’t date or feel attracted to people, so I hope you didn’t join just for him.”</p><p> “I joined because there's nothing else to do in this stupid town," which was mostly true; having a hot drummer didn’t hurt the cause, though.</p>
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